Saturday, September 29, 2012

Goodreads summary:
Michael DeCara came home from the Vietnam War a wounded man, both physically and emotionally. He tried putting his life back together, but found civilian life difficult after all he’d experienced in Nam. Raising his young daughter, Vanessa, by himself after his wife left, he found it difficult to commit to one job or one woman for any length of time. Then he met a young woman who made him feel good about himself again and who fell in love with Vanessa as well. But one day his life changed drastically and he left without a word to the girl, believing he was doing what was best for her. Now, years later, she has walked back into his life and he believes they may have a second chance at love–except she hates him and he doesn’t understand why.

Danielle Westerly fell in love when she was only eighteen and her heart was broken when he left her without a word. Her heartache was increased when she made a fateful decision that would alter her future, and she blamed him for her loss. Years later, she is single and has built up a successful career when she accidently runs into the man who was responsible for her past pain. Yet, their chemistry is undeniable. Can Dani give up her anger and let go of the pain of the past and fall in love again with the man she has hated all these years?

Dani and Michael share a journey of heartache, loss and painful memories that threaten to keep them apart. Can they get past these and finally find love again?

My review:
This book was a story about memories of the past. Within the memories of the past, there are more memories of the past if that makes sense. She is remembering remembering the past. It took me a while to figure this out, so I was very confused. Once I got over that, this was an awesome book. It is very serious, which is hard for me to read. I usually prefer upbeat books, but this book was written beautifully. The story flowed very well, and came to life in front of me. For the most part, I enjoyed this book and would recommend it.

4 stars

I received this book for free in return for an honest review.

Author Bio:
Deanna Lynn Sletten is a novelist who writes women's fiction and has also written one middle-grade fiction action/adventure novel. Her novels include Memories, Widow, Virgin, Whore and Outlaw Heroes. She started her writing career as a freelance writer for parenting publications in the early 1990s and transitioned to writing for blogs and websites until she made the jump to novelist. Deanna is married and has two grown children. When not writing, Deanna enjoys walking the trails around her northern Minnesota home with her beautiful Australian Shepherd.

Thursday, September 27, 2012

Summary:
Rosie Stanton climbed on a west-bound train to answer his ad for a wife and mother, everything she wants to be. But Tom Harris lied. He doesn’t want a wife, merely a mother for his two abandoned children and a cook and cleaner for his ranch.

Betrayed once, he’s vowed never to let another woman into his heart. Sexy Rosie upsets all his plans and threatens to invade his scarred heart. How will he maintain his vow to keep his hands off her as she charms his children, his cow hands, his life?

My review:
This book was fairly short, but very interesting. It was a sweet romance that I really enjoyed. It is the type of book I usually enjoy, so naturally I liked it. I really enjoyed the romance and the tension between them. It really kept me wanting to read and find out what will happen.

5 stars
I received this book for free in return for an honest review.

Excerpt:
Rosemary Stanton stood on the train platform sweating and waiting. Sweating because it was an especially hot day in late June. Waiting for her husband. A husband she wouldn’t recognize if he were standing right next to her.

She’d been desperate when she answered the advertisement for a mail order bride. Wanted: Single woman to cook, clean, and care for children on a cattle ranch in southwestern Colorado. Will marry upon arrival.

Well, she was twenty-six with no prospects. Her brother just got married and his new wife, Beatrice, didn’t want Rosie around. She could answer this advertisement or become a governess. Help someone else’s children grow up into adults. Live in someone else’s house. For the rest of her life, she’d have nothing she could call her own.

Rosie wanted a home. She wanted a husband and children. All the things she’d never have if she stayed in Philadelphia. When she’d seen the ad in the morning paper, she’d nearly shouted with glee. However, she managed to restrain herself until she got to her room before she yelled with joy. The advertisement was tailor-made for her needs. It got her away from Beatrice and got her her own home all in one fell swoop.

Her brother, Robert, though was not happy with the idea of his baby sister traveling across the country to marry a stranger. He grudgingly agreed to give her her dowry to take with her. Five thousand dollars. She’d take the draft to the bank as soon as she arrived in Creede, Colorado, and married Mr. Thomas Harris. Cattle rancher. It was her “in case it doesn’t work out” money. Though she supposed it would belong to her husband once she married. Perhaps she just wouldn’t tell him about it. Her conscience spoke up. That’s no way to start a marriage. With lies and secrets. Oh, all right. She’d tell him and have him take her to the bank. But not until after she’d taken his measure. If he was a cruel man, she would leave and she sure as heck wouldn’t tell him about her money.

Even with the dowry, there’d been few prospects for Rosie back in Philadelphia. She wasn’t pretty in the conventional sense. She thought her face with its big brown eyes and full lips was pleasing enough, but men apparently hadn’t. Her one beau had said her eyes were the color of warm brandy. That was before he left her to marry another more suitable woman. More suitable, hah! Richer was more like it.

Paul had expensive tastes and married a rabbit-faced girl, heir to a substantial fortune to which he’d have access. Well, good luck and good riddance.

Rosie did have one feature she’d been told was extraordinary. Her hair. It was waist length, wavy and a clear, golden blonde. Right now, standing on the train platform in Creede it was bound up in a loose bun on top of her head under her hat. It, like the rest of her, was covered in dust and soot from the train. She’d discovered on the second day that she could minimize the grime by sitting in the front of the car with the window closed. But sooner or later the heat and mugginess of the car would force her to open the window. The air came rushing in, cooling her, but bringing with it the dirt and ash from the train’s boilers.

On the long trip, she’d told herself again and again she’d made the right decision. This was her future.

Author Bio:
Cynthia Woolf was born in Denver, Colorado and raised in the mountains west of Golden. She spent her early years running wild around the mountain side with her friends.

She worked her way through college and went to work full time straight after graduation and there was little time to write. Then in 1990 she and two friends started a round robin writing a story about pirates. She found that she missed the writing and kept on with other stories. In 1992 she joined Colorado Romance Writers and Romance Writers of America.

Unfortunately, the loss of her job demanded the she not renew her memberships and her writing stagnated for many years. In 2001, she saw an ad in the paper for a writers conference being put on by CRW and decided she'd attend. One of her favorite authors, Catherine Coulter, was the keynote speaker. Cynthia was lucky enough to have a seat at Ms. Coulter's table at the luncheon and after talking with her, decided she needed to get back to her writing. She rejoined both CRW and RWA that day and hasn't looked back.

Tour Giveaway
Comment for a chance to win an eBook copy of "Tame a Wild Bride" at each stop of Cynthia's tour!

Wednesday, September 26, 2012

Broken over the death of her fiancé, Molly leaves law school to return to her childhood home in North Carolina. Expecting to lay low until she can figure out what else to do with her life, she finds herself in the arms of her high school sweetheart, the boy who represents everything from the past she tried to leave behind.

Looking for an escape, she instead finds a way back to the girl she almost forgot existed and a future she never dreamed possible.

Monday, September 24, 2012

Goodreads summary:
Nara Collins is an average sixteen-year-old, with one exception: every night she dreams the events of the following day. Due to an incident in her past, Nara avoids using her special gift to change fate…until she dreams a future she can’t ignore.

After Nara prevents a bombing at Blue Ridge High, her ability to see the future starts to fade, while people at school are suddenly being injured at an unusually high rate.

Grappling with her diminishing powers and the need to prevent another disaster, Nara meets Ethan Harris, a mysterious loner who seems to understand her better than anyone. Ethan and Nara forge an irresistible connection, but as their relationship heats up, so do her questions about his dark past.

My review:
I could not put this book down. It is such a unique concept for a book, and that really came through when I was reading it. You will not be disappointed. This book captured me from the very beginning when she reported a bomb threat. Super interesting! It took me a while to figure out that she was trying to help, not actually call in a fake bomb threat. Very interesting!
There was some suspense which I am normally not a huge fan of, but it was done well. It really kept me reading, and wanting to know what would happen next. I really loved the romance aspect of this book. It was frustrating at times, but definitely kept me wanting to know more about their relationship.

Saturday, September 22, 2012

Goodreads summary:
For Lauren Tate, a high-powered TV producer, sex, lies, and scandal make for a great movie-of-the-week, but when she becomes the target of a smear campaign, even the most salacious of Hollywood’s tales can’t compare to her real life drama. With her soon-to-be-ex-husband leading the effort to sully her reputation, and her former assistant threatening to snatch her hard-earned position at Timeless Television out of her hands, Lauren’s perfectly planned life quickly begins to unravel at the seams.

Clawing her way back to the top of the TV food chain is no easy task, especially in an industry where backstabbing is a sport and gossip is a full time business. But Lauren learns just how cut-throat showbiz can truly be when the hottest scandal in Tinsel Town turns deadly and the Hollywood hunk who’s stolen her heart is missing in action. Can she salvage her career, her reputation, and her love life? Or will Hollywood be the death of her?

My review:
This was a very enjoyable book. Even thought I felt like it was repetitive at times, it managed to hold my attention until the very end. I loved Jack and all of the other characters. They are really what made the story come to life for me. The people are what made this book captivating, and made me want to read more. I really liked this book. This was the first time I had heard of Lucie Simone, but I will definitely be checking out more of her books in the future.
While I enjoyed this book, it does include some things that I would not let young teens read.

4 stars

I received this book for free in return for an honest review through CLP tours.

Friday, September 21, 2012

This is a challenge hosted by Callapidder Days.
Here is the list of the books I need to get through. Along with this, I have other review books, will probably getting new review books, and have books I want to read just for fun. So, these are like the absolute minimum I have to read. I know it's a lot, but I am determined! All links go to Goodreads.

Sunday, September 16, 2012

Goodreads summary:
In the frenzied pursuit of romance, Christians sometimes lose sight of the greatest commandments: to love God and to love others. Distracted by wedding bells and exuberant hopes for a happily-ever-after, Christians often forget the greater vision of Christ’s call to love.

What if God is less worked up about marriage than we are?

With honesty and insight, Claire and Eli ask us to shift our thinking away from marriage or singleness and toward love and discipleship.

Drawing from luminaries like Augustine, the Desert Fathers, and Bonhoeffer, they invite you to join their real-life exploration of love as they convincingly demonstrate why a love for God and for one’s neighbor are to be our top priorities, whether we are single or married.

My review:
What a great book! This book talks about how our society is obsessed with marriage. We have gotten more worked up about marriage than God does. This book talks about that, and about how it is important for us to love everyone, but still be willing to give up everything to follow Christ. Claire and Eli made some great points, while adding parts of their own story throughout the book. I loved their story, and loved the way they handled things throughout their relationship. There are also cute little boy/girl things throughout the story to tell you who is talking. Love it!

Friday, September 14, 2012

Mothers. Can't live with them, can't live without them, can't live three doors down the road from them without them interfering in every aspect of your life.

Fed up with her mum meddling in her love life, Mackenzie Atkinson decides to turn the tables and find love for her lonely mother.
Her lonely and very fussy mother.
Surely finding an older gentleman looking for love won't be that hard, right?
Wrong.
If you've ever thought that boys grow up, here’s the problem: They don't. Ever.
And Mackenzie is about to learn that the hard way.

Author Bio:
Jaimie is a 27-year-old English-sounding Welsh girl with an awkward-to-spell name. She lives in South Wales and enjoys writing, gardening, drinking tea and watching horror movies. She hates spiders and cheese & onion crisps.
Kismetology is her first novel but there are plenty more on the way! She wants you to know that the mum in this book is nothing like her own mum!
Website: http://www.jaimieadmans.com
Twitter: http://www.twitter.com/be_the_spark
Facebook: http://www.facebook.com/jaimieadmansbooks
Goodreads: http://www.goodreads.com/jaimieadmans

If I could give one piece of advice to every teenager in the world, it would be this: when you move away from home, move far, far away, and never look back. My biggest mistake? I didn’t move far enough. In fact, I only moved three houses down the road. The perfect distance for my mother to interfere in my life, even more than she did when I lived under her own roof.
"Mackenzie, your curtains aren't even straight," Mum complains from her place on our sofa. "I don't know how you can put up with such a mess."
"How can curtains not be straight, Mum?"
"Well, the join in the middle isn't in the middle at all and the line where they meet doesn't go straight down. Plus there is at least six inches more on the left one than on the right one."
Dan rolls his eyes and gets up from his armchair with a groan.
I know how he feels.
"Don't be long, Daniel, you'll miss Eastenders," Mum calls after him.
"Sir, yes sir," Dan mutters, doing an army salute behind her back.
In all fairness to my mum, maybe my announcement that I was moving in with Dan came as a bit of a shock to her. After all, we’d been dating for a year, but my mum had only known him for six of those months. I’d dated him in secret for the first six months. I was a bit reluctant to introduce them, especially after the incident with an ex-boyfriend—the first and, up to that point, only boyfriend to ever meet my mum—where she'd nearly run him over with a wheelie bin (accidentally) and then put a brick through his car window (she was killing a wasp).
"Can't you get him to brush his hair once in a while?" Mum asks when Dan has left the room. "He makes the place look untidy. And don't even get me started on that shirt."
"Leave him alone, Mum," I warn her. "And stop your bloody dog peeing in my houseplant again, it's dying."
"Oh, Mackenzie, you'll never guess what happened to me today," Mum says animatedly. "Go on, guess."
"I have no idea, Mum."
"I almost got a criminal record. Can you believe that? Me! With a criminal record!"
"I'm honestly scared to ask, but how on earth did you manage that?"
"I nearly got arrested in the park!" She says excitedly.
Only my mother could be excited about getting arrested. "What happened?"
"Well, you know Baby's crocodile outfit, right? I did a really good job of making it, didn't I? I made it look really realistic?"
I nod.
"Well, Baby was off his lead in the park, doing his business, you know, as dogs do. And suddenly all these police surround us. Two animal control vans pull up, there's a helicopter overhead, there are even a couple of men with tranquilizer dart guns poised and ready to shoot."
I rub my hand over my eyes. "Why?"
"Well, it turns out that someone had seen Baby in the park and thought he was a real crocodile. She'd called the police in case he ate the children."
"Oh, Mum, really?" I groan.
"It was so exciting! I think I might even be on the news tonight!"
She thinks this is exciting? Embarrassing would be my preferred term. Very, very embarrassing. "So what happened?"
"Well, the police quickly realised their mistake. But one of them did take me aside and ask if I could not bring Baby to the park in that attire again. Then he gave us a lift home in his police car. He was ever so nice about it."
"I'm sure he was."
"How anyone could mistake my Baby for a crocodile is beyond me. He's hardly crocodile size, is he? The woman must have been blind as a bat."
"Well, you do insist on dressing him up as potentially dangerous animals. And walking him. In public. It's really quite disturbing."
"Oh, nonsense. I like trying out the sewing patterns I find on the internet. It keeps me busy."
Well, something has to, I suppose.
"Come here, Baby." Mum pats the sofa and the miniature Yorkshire terrier, which is practically surgically attached to her, comes running over. "Don't listen to that big, mean lady. She loves you really."
Baby is currently dressed as a ladybird. No, really. Mum's hobby of making these outfits for him is getting out of hand. He jumps onto the sofa and sinks his teeth into one of my twenty quid cushions.
"These cushions were expensive." I yank them out of his way.
"He likes the tassels," Mum responds.
This is our nightly routine now.
On our one-year anniversary, Dan had proposed that we move in together. My mum had not been overly thrilled by the turn of events, until she'd found a little house available to rent and paid the deposit without even asking us. The house happened to be three doors away from her place.
We should have known better.
Dan was indifferent to the fact that my mum had decided where we were going to live and paid a deposit without even telling us. It was one less thing that he had to do. And I couldn't really be mad at her; she was only doing it out of the goodness of her heart. Presumptuous, yes, but ultimately only trying to be helpful. We'd signed a one-year lease two days later.
Since then, Dan has been a gem. Not many men would put up with my mother being an almost permanent third wheel. Not many men would run her cat, Pussy (no, really), down to the emergency vet at three o’clock in the morning because it looked a bit peaky. It was fine. A screeching woman yelling that it looked off-colour had just woken it up from its sleep. I look peaky at that time of day too. Dan had offered his car as transport and we’d roared off down the road at breakneck speed, scaring the poor cat half to death. Then Dan and I had sat in the parking lot for half an hour, while the vet determined that there was absolutely nothing whatsoever wrong with the cat.
The house being so near had softened the blow of me moving out and leaving Mum with only her yappy little dog and not-sick cat for company.
"You can pop in anytime you want," I'd told her.
I had no idea that translated into "come over every night and bring the dog and cat with you" in mum language.
The night we moved in, just as we’d settled down together on our new sofa with a glass of wine each and switched on our newly installed satellite TV, my mum’s special knock-knockknock-knock on the door reverberated through the living room. We looked at each other with dread and Dan groaned.
My mum came in, took her shoes off, sat down on the sofa, helped herself to a glass of wine and put on Coronation Street. She didn’t actually watch Corrie, but proceeded to criticise our carpets, our uncomfortable sofa (it wasn’t) the colour of the walls, the way the walls clashed with the curtains (they didn’t) the heat in the room (it was too hot) and the shirt Dan was wearing (I’d always quite liked him in it). Within three minutes, Baby had peed on my new plant. I don't have the best of luck with plants anyway, but I'm sure the dog pee didn't help the plant's life expectancy.
This routine has continued almost every night in the three months since we moved in. In comes my mum, on goes Emmerdale, Corrie or Eastenders, and out comes Mum’s opinion of everything from the wattage of our light bulbs to the colour of Dan’s socks.

Thursday, September 13, 2012

Summary:
Seventeen year old Zoe Vanderveen is a GAP—a genetically altered person. She lives in the security of a walled city on prime water-front property along side other equally beautiful people with extended life spans.

Her brother Liam is missing.

Noah Brody is a natural who lives on the outside. He leads protests against the GAPs and detests the widening chasm they’ve created between those who have and those who don’t. He doesn’t like girls like Zoe and he has good reason not to like her specifically.

Zoe’s carefree life takes a traumatic turn. She’s in trouble and it turns out that Noah, the last guy on earth she should trust, is the only one who can help her.

Wednesday, September 12, 2012

Book Blurb:
Twenty-seven-year-old Jordyn Simmons has almost everything she’s ever wanted—a sexy live-in boyfriend, an adorable son, and a finished novel she plans to publish. The only two things missing from her life are a publisher for her book and a relationship with her estranged mother, Debra. As Jordyn pursues her novelist ambitions, her world collides with Debra’s, and both women are forced to make decisions that will change their lives forever.

My Review:
I was a little disappointed by this book, but I still really liked it. I think the blurb makes it seem like the story will mainly be about Jordyn's relationship with her mom, but I felt like the story was mainly about her journey to get her book published. I still found it very interesting, it was just not what I was expecting. I knew getting published was hard, but I never really knew what it was like getting rejected over and over by agents. That would be so hard. The way the story ends is very sweet and happy though. I enjoyed it.

4 stars

I received this book for free in return for an honest review.

Excerpt:
On my last day in New York, I sank into Mother’s living room couch and sighed. That chocolate colored sofa was the only place where I thought we could manage a peaceful goodbye. Comfortably broken in and surrounded by cherry-stained bookcases, the couch was my favorite spot to get lost in a good book. When I wasn’t too exhausted from late night feedings or keeping up with my day job, I’d hoist myself up from the soft leather cushions, hand Elijah to Mother, and browse through the bookcases even though I had an eReader and didn’t need Mother’s paper books. She constantly traded books with her friends, and had quite a collection. From bestselling fiction to dry non-fiction, and everything in between, I always found something new to read.

Mother, who sat on the matching loveseat, tossed back her impeccably bobbed hair. “Elijah fell asleep an hour ago. He’s going to miss his young bubbe.”
Referring to herself as a young grandmother wasn’t a stretch. At forty-seven, she looked nothing like a hunched-over elderly woman. Meticulously dressed and groomed, Mother didn’t skimp on maintenance. Ironed clothes were a necessity, and every six weeks she promptly paid a visit to her hairdresser for a color, cut and style.
“Tyler’s in the car, talking to our real estate agent,” I said cautiously. Being in her living room usually didn’t bother me. A scratched and dinged hardwood floor gave the room a casual, lived-in feeling. It was as cozy as I thought every living room should be.
“He’ll only be a minute,” I added, trying to neutralize the uneasiness that lingered between us.
She frowned. “I wish you’d reconsider staying here tonight. You spend more time with his parents. You left me out last Thanksgiving.”
I squirmed inside my high-heeled boots. Thanksgiving had been almost a year ago, right after Elijah was born. Tyler’s parents graciously invited her to their house too, but she refused the invitation. I focused on the maple tree visible from the window. A brilliant corona of yellow leaves, the tree glowed on the warm, fall day.
“I’m sorry your feelings were hurt,” I said, determined to avoid another fight. “But we spent Chanukah with you. We’re here now. That’s what matters.”
She looked at me intensely, her blue eyes concentrated. “What matters is the mistake you’re about to make. I can’t sit back and keep quiet.”
“You have your opinion and I have mine.” I immediately regretted my defensive tone. I was twenty-five-years old and didn’t need her permission to move to Florida.

Tuesday, September 11, 2012

Goodreads summary:
In this humorous and insightful tale, a modern day princess finds herself single and asking for magical intervention to change her sorry love life. Rather than casting a spell to bring Prince Charming to her rescue, a savvy fairy godmother gives the tenderhearted damsel an unexpected gift. By entrusting her true thoughts and desires to an unlikely confidant, the young royal soon discovers that the person who could make her life everything she dreamed it would be has been with her all along.

As author Kym Petrie herself realized, every woman needs a froggy friend and a secret journal—and enough adventures with the girls to keep her heart pounding and her mind racing. Life is meant to be about happy beginnings . . . you can never have enough of them.

My review:
This was so cute! It is really short, but gets right to the point! It is all about finding the right kind of guy for you, and not needing a guy to complete you. I love that message and think it is so important for everyone to hear. I loved the way it was tied into a fairy tale. It made the story so cute.

Monday, September 10, 2012

Zane (The McKades of Texas #1) by Kimberly Lewis
Be sure to check out the tour page here!

Summary:
Kellan Anderson is in hillbilly hell – or at least that’s what it feels like. After enduring endless accounts of abuse from her now ex-boyfriend, Kellan makes a run for her life and finds herself in cowboy country. Leaving her fancy clothes and expensive lifestyle behind her, she trades in her high heels for cowboy boots and changes her name to Andi Ford. With her painful past threatening to catch up with her, hiding out in this small town seems easy enough – until one blonde hair, blue eyed cowboy steps in the picture.

Zane McKade has sworn off women, determining that they are all liars and cheats – including the new waitress at the local bar. After a rather unpleasant first encounter with the beautiful brunette, Zane’s radar is set to high as he believes this woman is not who she claims to be. When his intimidation methods fail to break through Andi’s barrier he decides to turn on the charm to get her to tell the truth. But Zane’s plan begins to backfire as the more time he spends charming Andi, the more he finds himself breaking his own rules and falling for her.

My Review:
I loved this book! This is a great book, but it is for adults. I love cowboys, and Zane is the perfect cowboy in this book. He is so sweet and so loving! He is perfect. This book moved quickly, but at the perfect pace. It kept me engaged in what I was reading, and I could not wait to see what would happen next. There is a little bit of mystery/action in the book, but not very much. Just enough to keep the book interesting.
I loved how friendly everyone in the little town was to Andi. Norah was so sweet, and the perfect friend. She was very understanding, but fun to be with at the same time. Linda and Bell were also very welcoming towards Andi. This was a great book that I really enjoyed!

Saturday, September 8, 2012

Goodreads Summary:
Facing her estranged husband, Fletcher, was always going to be heartbreaking for nurse Tessa King. Especially as Fletcher has one last favor to ask—with his mother critically ill, he needs Tessa to pretend tragedy never tore their marriage apart. Impossible when your husband is the one man it hurts your heart to touch…but the one man you can't resist….

My Review:
This is such a heart wrenching story. It is a roller coaster of emotions, but is written so beautifully. This story is mainly about overcoming grief and working through broken relationships. This is not a light read by any means. It is very serious and intense, but in a good way. This was a great book that I would read again.
I do not like the cover at all though. I don't feel like it does the book justice. There were many bad words that I remember, but there were a couple sex scenes that I would not let young teens read.

Wednesday, September 5, 2012

Book Blurb:
Your free gift with purchase doesn't always come from a department store makeup counter. Emma and Laura are about as different as two sisters can be. Emma's always been the party girl, Laura, the hardworking doctor. But now, the two have something in common. Both are newly single and trying out the dating scene after marriage. Emma's a widow and a single mother with a guilty secret she can't let go. Laura's husband just dumped her for one of four women he's been sleeping with. A dispute over the house forces Laura to move in with her sister and that's when the fun begins. Go on some dates with these 42 and 44 year-old adorable sisters who are both looking for love and your jaw will surely drop! Laura's mixed bag includes Dan, a selfish womanizer, Ari, a stalker, and Tim, a compulsive liar. For Emma there's sexy, adorable Preston, a self-proclaiming fun guy, beautiful Alice, who's a lesbian, and a string of Matts who go from bad to worse. Then there's separated, charismatic, wealthy Luke Sullivan. Luke's carrying some baggage, but he makes Emma's heart stop every time he appears. Free Gift With Purchase is a book about two sisters who have always seen things from an entirely different perspective, but who as women in need of each other learn to consider that instead of judging, looking through each other's eyes might make their lives a lot richer. In other words, when you buy into opening your heart and believing in yourself, you might just end up with a Free Gift With Purchase.

My Review:
This book was so cute!! It went really fast, and the plot changed a lot. I loved that. I was always on my toes, never sure what would happen next. It really kept the book interesting for me.
I loved all of the characters. They were so fun and I felt like I really got to know them all. The author did that really well in the small amount of time we had with each character. I felt like they were my friends or enemies. I loved the relationships between mother/daughter/sister. They were so sweet, and I hope to have that with my family when we are all older.

Monday, September 3, 2012

Book Blurb:
Bitter news leads a San Diego widow and widower to true love—and to a scheme to marry off their adult children, a plan that goes deliciously awry.

Gaetano Lorenzo was the sweetest man that the widowed Estelle Bennett had ever met. That morning began terribly, with awful news, but now the owner and head chef of a local San Diego ristorante was offering up Italian delights: red wine, delicious food, walks on the beach, laughter when she’d never thought she’d laugh again…. Estelle felt twenty-five. She and Gaetano had found the recipe for love, and a simple variation might just get their adult children to settle down, too. A scoop of sugar, two ladlefuls of lust, a pinch of deception and a whole 24 oz.-can of danger— Suddenly, ingredients were coming from everywhere! But kitchens are crazy places, and variety is the spice of life. And for anything to get cooked, things have to get hot.

My Review:
This is a very cute, fast read. It almost feels rushed, and I felt like I did not get to know enough about the plot in order to really love this book. However, I still thought it was a great, light read. I loved all of the matchmaking schemes. They were so funny! This book also switches points of view a lot, but I liked getting to hear the story from all of the characters different points of view.

4 stars

I received this book for free in return for an honest review.

About the Author:
From the time she could hold a pencil, Shirley Ann Wilder wrote stories. Being the youngest of six children, she was overlooked many times but found wonder and magic in reading books. As a youngster she was especially fond of horse books and read every one of Walter Farley’s Black Stallion books.

That passion for horses carried over into her adult life and with her husband and four children, raised Quarter Horses and German Shepherds. Shirley’s other passion was writing, but it was put on hold until the three sons and one daughter were in high school.

After developing a severe allergy to the equine species and having to give up the major part of horse involvement, Shirley wrote a weekly column for a community newspaper and a monthly column entitled “On the Wilder Side” for the California Horseman’s News in the which she recounted the humorous episodes that happened during the Wilder Family’s horse era. Shirley also published in college literary magazines, but her real quest was to write novels.

After taking numerous writing classes and amassing many unfinished manuscripts, one of her writing instructors suggested she join Romance Writers of America. Taking that advice she also joined the local San Diego RWA chapter has since completed six novels. She served on the Executive Board as Co-President of RWA- San Diego for 2006 and 2007 and held several other chair positions. She credits her fellow writers for the support and encouragement that has kept her writing during recent difficult times.

Shirley Ann was widowed in January of 2008 when her husband died of stage four colon cancer after battling it bravely for three years and four months. Three of her grown children live near her in suburbs of San Diego and one son lives in Kentucky. They have blessed her with four granddaughters and one grandson.

Since her husband’s death, Shirley has become an advocate for colonoscopies and is currently working on a non-fiction book about the grieving process and all one encounters when suffering the loss of a mate. “John was my hero and I will miss him forever, but he always encouraged me to keep writing and to stay strong.”

Sunday, September 2, 2012

I have finished one book so far, so I am definitely behind on my goals.
I finished Too Many Cooks for a blog tour which will be here tomorrow, so be sure to come back and check out my review and enter for a chance to win a copy of the book!